Welcome to the page of Artemis!

 

God of:

Hunting, Wild Animals, The Wilderness/Forests, Children, Childhood, Childbirth, Dance, Archery, The Moon

Other Names:

Phoebe

Festival:

• Brauronia: A festival held at Brauron where young girls, and sometimes young boys, paid there respect to Artemis the she-bear by assuming the image of the bear themselves. It was believed this was a way for them to thank Artemis for her protection throughout their journey to adulthood.
• Charisteria: A festival to honor victory over the Persians at Marathon. 500 goats were sacrificed to Artemis and Ares. This was quite unique as typically if Artemis was to share space with another deity it was Apollo, not Ares. There are some beliefs that this union is connected to the joint worship of Artemis and Ares in regard to the Amazons.
• Elaphebolia: A festival dedicated to Artemis Elaphebolos (deer slayer) where deer or stag shaped cakes made of dough, honey, and sesame seeds were offered to her.
• Mounykhia: A full moon celebration held on the 16th of Mounykhion (April/May). Small cakes adorned with candles were offered to Artemis as a thank you for her assistance in the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis.

Sacred Day:

• 6th of every month. The 6th day of each month was sacred to Artemis because according to myth, she was born on the 6th day of the month Thargelion, one day before her twin brother Apollo. This established the pattern of the 6th day being associated with her worship and festivals throughout the Greek calendar.

Epithets:

• Agrotera: The huntress
• Gamelioi Theoi: Protector of Marriage
• Genetyllis: The protectress of births
• Hegemone: The leader/ruler
• Hemeresia: The soothing goddess
• Locheia: Protectress of pregnant women
• Soteira: Saviour
• Pheraia: Of the beasts
• Lykeie: Of the wolves
• Philomeirax: Friend of young girls
• Phosphoros: Light-bringer
  

Married to:

Nobody. Maidenhood Intact Foh Evah. 

Children:

Nah, she´s a virgin. It´s like, kinda her whole deal. 

Artemis´ background:

Her father is Zeus, King of the Gods, and her mother is Leto, a Titan.

In her quest for sanctuary, Leto found herself pursued by the vengeful Hera, who sought to thwart her labor. Hera unleashed the fearsome python upon Leto, causing towns to close their doors in dread of the goddess's wrath. At last, Leto sought refuge on the island of Delos, where she could give birth in peace. According to the lore, it was Artemis who emerged first, aiding in the arrival of her twin, Apollo. Though born of the same celestial essence, the twins graced the world on different days; it is whispered that Artemis arrived under the shroud of night on the 6th, while Apollo heralded the dawn of the 7th. Thus, the threads of fate entwined them, linking Artemis to the gentle glow of the moon and Apollo to the vibrant rays of the sun.

Famously known for:

• whispering under his breath ¨for being absolutely. positively. feral.¨ - Hermes 🙀

How to worship (intro level)

• Invite her to your witchcraft
• Inner Child Work
• Work-Take Care of Nature In Some Way
• Dance
• Be Kind To Animals
• Get in touch with your inner baddie (yaaaas bitch yaaaas)

 

Artemis Deep Dive Episode TBD

 

Sip of the Day

• The Niobe Incident: One of the most famous examples of their cooperation in vengeance. When Niobe boasted about having more children than their mother Leto, Apollo and Artemis worked together to slay all of Niobe's children - Apollo killing the sons and Artemis the daughters
• The Orion Conflict: Some versions of the myth suggest Apollo tricked Artemis into killing Orion, her hunting companion and possible love interest, by challenging her to hit a distant "target" in the sea (which was actually Orion swimming)
• The Divine Teachers of Chiron: Some myths claim that Apollo and Artemis taught the centaur Chiron many of the skills he would later be known for such as medicine and hunting.
• When Ancient Greek girls were set to be married and leave girlhood behind, they would offering their childhood toys to Artemis.
• Because of Artemis’ mythology and her focus primarily on girls and women she’s incorrectly been seen as hating men. Some of her temples were taken care of by male priests and she was widely worshiped by boys and men of the Ancient Greek world.
• A lesser known aspect of Artemis is that she’s the goddess of dance!

& Something to Chew On

• "a goddess who possessed more temples in the ancient world than any other deity except for her brother Apollo (and more altars at Olympia than any other god except Zeus), and in whose temples hundreds of thousands of votives have been found, indicative of continuous devotional practice by both sexes throughout all age groups."— from The Visual Imagery, Artemis & Life by Mary G. Galvin PhD
• “Artemis is freedom- wild, untrammeled, aloof from all entanglements. She is a huntress, a dancer, the goddess of nature and wildness, a virgin physically and, even more important, a virgin psychologically, inviolable, belonging to no one, defined by no relationship, confined by no bond.” — The Gods of Greece by Arianna Stassinopoulos and Roloff Beny

   

• “To be a child, then, is to be weak. To be female is to be weak. To be a female child is to be weakest of all. Such a state was thus antithetical to the supremacy associated with divinity in ancient Greece. Apparently it was possible for the Greeks to conceive of their deities as having a single factor of weakness, and thus it was not difficult to imagine a male god as an infant. If anything, showing the gods performing their “natural” functions even as babies enhanced their power, and thus Hermes, for example, thieving as a neonate. Goddesses were by definition already dealing with a weakness category; to add another would functionally be an affront to, even a contradiction of, their divinity. Thus, tactfully to avoid the awkward nature of their innate imperfection, goddesses were never rendered doubly weak: female and child. The one goddess who could break this unspoken rule was Artemis.” — Artemis by Stephanie Budin

• “Most commonly known as the goddess of the hunt and wilderness, Artemis was also responsible for helping women in childbirth (when she was not killing them), turn- ing children into adults, marking boundaries between political territories and between periods of war and peace, bringing and curing plague, bringing light, and manumitting slaves, especially female slaves.” - Artemis by Stephanie Budin
• “Of unknown etymology, her (Artemis) name was sometimes associated with the Greek verb artameo which means ‘to butcher, cut to pieces’” - Ancient Greek Cults by Jennifer Larson

 

Visual Infographics can be found below!!